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State prosecutors in Michigan announced criminal charges Tuesday against the 16 Republicans who served as fake electors in 2020, a watershed moment in the still-ongoing federal and state investigations into the 2020 election aftermath.
Some of the GOP electors in Michigan were local activists who were recruited to serve as “fake electors,” all while inaccurately believing there was still a chance that then-President Donald Trump might secure a second consecutive term. Others were well-connected GOP operatives. The group of 16 fake electors includes current and former state GOP officials, a Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, a school board member and Trump supporters who were the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results.
After the 2020 election wrapped up, some of these individuals publicly said they didn’t realize they were potentially breaking the law by signing the fake certificates. Others are still peddling the lie that the election was stolen. CNN has reached out to the 16 fake electors for comment about the criminal charges.
Here’s what we know about the 16 fake electors facing state charges.
Meshawn Maddock, 55, was co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party during the 2020 campaign and is married to a GOP member of the Michigan House of Representatives. CNN previously reported that she publicly bragged about the Trump campaign’s involvement in the fake elector scheme. The Maddocks spoke at a pro-Trump event in Washington, DC, one day before the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and Meshawn Maddock was in DC on the day of the attack, though she wasn’t at the US Capitol.
Kathy Berden, 70, is one of the Republican National Committee members representing Michigan. She was previously one of the pro-Trump delegates at the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.
